Happy Holidays VI
Christmas Socks
Bill Regan stepped into the apartment over the Wheelers’ garage that was his home. He had started to remove his coat when he heard his wife’s muffled voice coming from the closet.
“Bill, where do you keep your Christmas decorations? All I can find in here are a few gift bags and some red tissue paper.”
“I don’t have any Christmas decorations, and those gift bags and tissue paper are leftover from when I got suckered into a gift exchange,” Regan responded.
Kip popped out of the closet and gave her husband a puzzled look. “But you lived here last Christmas. Didn’t you celebrate?”
“The Wheelers had dinner catered so the staff could have a break. I went over to the Manor House and ate dinner with the rest of the staff. Then I rode all five horses, one after another. The Bob-Whites were in Arizona, and nobody but me was doing any riding. Not that it mattered, Christmas is just another day to me.”
“It’s not even Thanksgiving yet. What brought this on?” Regan asked.
“I got an email from my mom today. My family is having a gift exchange this year. There are so many of us that we’re going to draw names. Dan’s name will go in with the other kids, and yours and mine will go in with the adults. They’re going to draw on Thanksgiving, so my mom is going to draw for us and she’ll let me know whose names we have. That way we can get our shopping done in plenty of time to ship our gifts before the Christmas rush.”
Kip, Regan, and Dan had traveled to South Dakota the previous October so that Regan could meet his in-laws and he and Kip could have their marriage blessed. He’d been a little overwhelmed by his wife’s large family, but he liked them. “It’s nice of them to include Danny,” he said. “Is Rod included?”
A shadow passed over Kip’s face. Her brother, Rod, had recently moved from a rehab facility to a halfway house and was doing well. His addiction had caused problems in her family, and Kip was the only one who had any contact with him.
“No,” she said sadly. “But they’ll come around after he gets out and proves that he’s straightened out.”
He was touched by her faith in her brother; he just wished the subject of Christmas hadn’t come up. His childhood Christmases in the orphanage hadn’t been much fun. Well- meaning people had always donated candy and socks to the orphanage. But none of the kids ever got toys of their very own, just those blasted socks. Christmas had always been a long, lonely day for him. At least the do-gooders can sleep at night knowing that the orphans of the world don’t have cold feet, he thought to himself.
Thanksgiving came and went, and Regan had to admit that he enjoyed it. Mr. Maypenny had invited the Regans to have dinner and spend the day with him and Dan. As they were leaving, Kip invited Mr. Maypenny to spend Christmas with them and Dan at their apartment. Regan had been a little surprised as he’d assumed they’d just eat dinner with the staff.
“No way,” said Kip when he mentioned it to her as they walked back to their apartment. “I’m cooking dinner, and anybody who wants to is welcome to join us. You know,” she continued, “we really should start going to church, and I think Christmas Eve would be a good time to start.”
“Whatever,” muttered Regan trying to ignore the hurt look on Kip’s face.
That night, as they were getting ready for bed, the phone rang. Kip answered it and chatted for a while. Regan was in bed by the time she hung up. When Kip entered their bedroom she walked over to their alarm clock and set the alarm.
“That was Celia,” she said. We’re getting up at 5:00 tomorrow morning and going shopping in White Plains. They have day after Thanksgiving sales, and we want to get there before all the bargains are gone. They have a good sale on those TV/DVD players we talked about getting for Dan, and all Christmas decorations are thirty percent off.”
“What do you want for Christmas?” Kip asked him. “I want to get you something special since it’s our first Christmas together.”
“You two have yourselves a heyday,” Regan responded gruffly. “I don’t care what you get me as long as it’s not socks. Don’t ever give me socks.”
Kip returned from her shopping trip late the next afternoon glowing with excitement. She had bought several gifts, an artificial Christmas tree, and some Christmas decorations.
He’d been surprised that she’d bought an artificial tree and he told her so.
“It makes me sad when the real ones die, so I like the artificial ones better,” she told him.
Regan helped Kip and Dan set the tree up and stood back and watched as they decorated it.
“Come on, Ebenezer, you can help,” Dan teased him.
“You two are doing just fine,” said Regan as he sat down and started reading the newspaper.
He tried to stay out of the Christmas preparations as much as possible. Kip had lots of big plans. She decided that she, Regan, and Dan would all hang stockings on Christmas Eve and suggested that Santa would fill them. Dan eagerly went along with all her plans. He had drawn Kip’s three-year-old niece’s name for the gift exchange. He asked Di to go shopping with him since she had young sisters and knew what little girls liked. He seemed quite pleased with the gift they selected and even wrapped it himself.
Regan had drawn Kip’s sister-in-law’s name, and she had drawn that of one of her brothers. Noting her husband’s lack of interest, Kip told him she’d take care of it.
“You better, Kip,” Dan quipped. “We wouldn’t want the Grinch to get involved.”
Regan glared at his nephew, grabbed his coat, and headed to the stable.
Regan calmed down as soon as he entered the tackroom. He knew he was being a jerk and hurting Kip’s and Dan’s feelings, but he didn’t know what to do about it. He’d tried to get himself into the Christmas spirit by buying his wife a saddle blanket she had hinted for and a necklace, but he just didn’t feel anything.
He thought back to the only happy Christmas he could remember. His parents’ last Christmas. He’d been so little that he was wearing pajamas with feet in them. His mom had been there, wearing an apron, and his sister, Eileen was there. She’d been a teenager, and he now realized what a pretty girl she had been. He and his dad had been playing on the floor with some toy he must have gotten for Christmas. He tried hard to remember his dad, but all he could come up with was the image of a big man with a loud laugh. What’s the matter with me? He asked himself. Why can I remember those stupid pajamas when I can’t even remember my dad’s face? Regan swallowed hard against the lump that was rising in his throat. He grabbed Jupe’s tack and headed toward his stall. I’ll feel better after I go for ride.
He and Kip carefully avoided the subject of Christmas after that. A part of him was pleased to see that his lack of participation didn’t seem to slow her down. She continued to add decorations to their apartment and went about her Christmas plans.
December twenty-third was the last day of school before Christmas in Sleepyside. School was dismissed at 1:00 PM and Dan got off the bus at the Manor House and stopped at the stable to visit his uncle.
“What are you up to?” Regan asked his nephew.
“I’m going up to your apartment. Kip and I are going to bake Christmas cookies and make candy,” Dan replied.
“Since when are you into baking?”
“I’m not really,” Dan answered. “But my mom and I always baked cookies together, and Kip used to bake cookies with her mom and brothers and sister so we decided we’d do it together. Kip had a great idea that you and she and I could take some of the traditions from our families and put them together and come up with our own new traditions. I know you probably don’t remember a lot of the things your family used to do but my mom told me about them, and she tried to keep the traditions alive with me. Your dad loved Christmas, and Mom told me he always made it fun. Too bad you don’t take after him”
Dan turned on his heel and stalked away. Regan stared at his back feeling like a complete jerk. Last year at this time Danny’s mother, Eileen, had just died and he was living on the streets. No wonder he’s so excited about this year. It has to be so much better for him. This is Kip’s first Christmas away from her home and family. I should quit feeling sorry for myself and do everything I can to make it happy for her. I should try to be more like my dad. I may not remember much about him but at least my memories are happy. Kip and I want to have kids someday and I want them to have good memories of me. He thought for a while about what he could do to make Christmas special for Kip and knew there was one thing that he could do, but he’d need some help.
He grabbed his coat and headed for the staff entrance of the Manor House. He stepped into the kitchen and found Miss Trask and Celia going over some last minute holiday details.
“Is Mr. Wheeler in his office?” He asked Miss Trask.
“Yes, Regan, just go knock on the door.” Miss Trask said, giving Regan a curious look.
“Thanks,” he said over his shoulder as he headed for the office.
An hour later he emerged from the office with a smile on his face. He went back through the kitchen and found Miss Trask and Celia working on some crafty looking project.
“What’s that stuff?” he asked.
“Mistletoe,” they chorused.
“Can I have a little sprig of it?”
“Sure, help yourself.” Miss Trask and Celia looked at each other and giggled.
Regan blushed, grabbed the mistletoe and headed for the apartment over the garage.
He burst through the door to the smell of baking cookies. Kip was standing in the kitchen covered with flour and frosting, singing “Rudolf The Red Nosed Reindeer” at the top of her lungs. He snuck up behind her, held the mistletoe over her head, wrapped his arms around her and kissed her.
“Wow, what brought this on?” Kip gasped.
“I always wanted to kiss a pretty girl under the mistletoe,” he answered.
“Even one that’s covered with frosting?”
“That’s the sweetest kind,” he answered and kissed her again. He held her close to him and whispered, “I’m sorry I’ve been such a grouch.”
Just then Dan came out of the bathroom holding his stomach. “Man, Kip, you weren’t kidding when you said eating all that cookie dough would give me a stomachache. I think Mart’s rubbing off on me or something.” He noticed his aunt and uncle still embracing.
“Woo Hoo, keep it up you two, I keep telling you I want cousins.”
Regan reached out and grabbed Dan, pulling him into the hug. “I love you both,” he said.
Dan hugged them both back, and said “Me too,” in a raspy voice.
Kip just nodded as tears streamed down her face. The three of them held each other for a moment longer until Regan laughed.
“This place is a mess, and those are the worst looking cookies I’ve ever seen. Let’s go have supper at Wimpy’s and clean up when we get back.”
“Sounds good,” said Dan as he went to get his coat.
“I thought you had a stomachache,” said Regan.
“I told you Mart’s been rubbing off on me, I can eat any time,” said Dan with a laugh.
Christmas Eve day passed quickly with everyone trying to get their work done early and finish up last minute details. Kip, Regan, and Dan took Mr. Maypenny to church with them and then had a light supper before they sat down to open gifts. Regan kept looking at his watch and he was the only one of the four of them who wasn’t surprised when there was a knock at the door. He jumped up to answer it and opened it to find a thin, nervous looking man in his early thirties standing there.
Kip looked up and screamed. “Rod, Rod, I can’t believe it’s you!” She was laughing and crying at the same time. She hugged her brother and then her husband. “You did this, didn’t you?”
“That I did, with some help from Mr. Wheeler. Rod is here on a three-day pass from the halfway house. Mr. Wheeler helped me arrange it and had his private pilot, Bob, fly him here. He’s been hiding at Tom and Celia’s since this afternoon.”
Just then the phone rang. It was Kip’s mother calling from her family’s Christmas Eve get-together. Kip answered the cordless phone and told her mother that Rod was there. She was quiet for a moment and then held the phone out to her brother.
“Rod, Mom wants to talk to you.”
Rod took the phone and Kip led him into the bedroom with it so he could talk privately. Kip came out of the room with tears in her eyes. Dan and Mr. Maypenny were gone and she and Regan were alone. She walked over to him and hugged him tightly.
“Bill, I can’t believe you pulled this off. It’s not just good for me; it’s good for Rod and my whole family. As mad as they are at him, they just can’t turn him away on Christmas. I just wish I had something to give him for Christmas.”
“I took care of that,” said Regan. “I picked up a few things for him.”
“What did you get him?”
“A shirt, I figured he’d be about the same size as your other brothers, the new Rolling Stones CD, and some gloves. Pretty generic stuff but at least I didn’t have to resort to getting him socks.”
Kip hugged her husband harder. “Bill, I love you so much,” she whispered.
Dan came in at that moment. “All right, you’re at it again. I’m seeing cousins in my future.”
“You goof,” Kip laughed. “Is Mr. Maypenny with the surprise?”
“What surprise?” asked Regan.
Dan and Kip looked at each other and smiled. “You’ll see,” said Dan with a grin.
Rod came out of the bedroom just then.
“How’d it go?” Kip asked anxiously.
“Okay,” he answered. “I talked to Mom for a long time and I talked to Scott and Marshal, too. I have lot of amends to make, but I think I made a start.”
She grabbed her brother’s hand and squeezed it. “Grab your coat, Rod. Dan and I have a big surprise planned and we have to go outside.”
Regan was baffled, but he threw his coat on and followed Kip, Dan, and Rod down the stairs and into the stable.
Mr. Maypenny was standing next to a stall that had been empty earlier that day. Regan stopped short when he saw what was in the stall. It was a tall, leggy, young bay Appaloosa gelding with a blanket of white, a snip and star on his face, and two tall stockings on his hind legs.
“He’s nice. Look at the size of him. Where did he come from?” asked Regan.
Kip smiled, her eyes sparkling, as she handed her husband an envelope with his name on it.
Regan ripped it open and gasped. It was a horse’s registration certificate with William P. Regan printed in the space for the owner’s name.
“He’s mine? But how? Who?” Regan was so overwhelmed that he could barely speak.
“He’s from Dan, Mr. Maypenny, and me. We thought it was time you had a horse of your own. You can start training him next spring.” Kip smiled with delight at her husband’s excitement.
Words tumbled from Regan’s lips. “That’s the one thing I’ve wanted my whole life. How did you know? He’s perfect. I can’t believe you did this for me.”
Kip smiled again. “You might not be so thrilled when you look at his name. We really gave you the one thing you didn’t want for Christmas.”
Regan looked at the registration certificate in his hand and threw back his head and laughed.
The horse’s name was Christmas Socks.
The End
Author's Notes:
Thank you, Ann, for the wonderful editing job! You know I’ll be glad to do the same for you!